This application claims the priority of German patent document 100 21 982.9, filed May 5, 2000, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a foot parking brake for a vehicle having braking devices arranged at rear wheels, said braking devices each being controllable by a pedal by way of Bowden controls, and a connection element being arranged between the pedal and the braking devices and being connected with the Bowden controls.
From German Patent Document DE 34 08 058 A1, a control system for a parking brake in motor vehicles is known which comprises swivel levers which act upon a brake control element and which are connected with tension cables leading to the wheel brakes.
An object of the invention is to provide a foot parking brake for a motor vehicle having a connection element for the cables between a foot pedal of the parking brake and the two brakes of the wheels which can be mounted in the vehicle in a simple manner and ensures a geared control of the foot pedal force onto the brakes.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by a connection element comprises a swivel lever bearing which, in a sleeve part, has a bearing pin for swivel levers which are arranged on both ends, a first swivel lever is connected with a Bowden cable and cable control of the pedal, and at least another Bowden cable and cable control are connected by way of a connection piece (18) with a connecting rod 17 of the braking devices.
The principal advantages achieved by the invention are that, as a result of the connection element, a compact component is provided between the pedal and the two rear wheel brakes, which compact component connects the cable coming from the pedal in a force-transmitting manner with the cable leading toward the rear to the wheel brakes. The connection element is connected with a swivel lever bearing which, in a sleeve part, has a pivot pin for swivel levers arranged on both sides. One of these swivel levers is connected with the cable of the foot parking brake and the other cable is connected with a connecting rod for the braking devices of the wheels.
So that an optimal force transmission can take place from one swivel lever to the other and thus to the cables, the connection element includes a U-shaped support part with legs which, in the installed position, extend downward from the web. The sleeve part extends transversely to the legs and is fastened partially in an exposed manner above the web in a, for example, semicircular shaped-in section by a weld. The connection of the sleeve part with the connection element can also take place in a different manner.
So that a simple mounting of the connection element in the vehicle body is ensured, it has a bent-out section on its one leg which bent-out section is connected with a receiving plate fastened on the transmission tunnel of the vehicle. The other leg of the connection element is fixed on a side of the transmission tunnel or of the vehicle body, so that a simple mounting and demounting possibility is provided by these fastenings.
The swivel levers of the connection element are held on a pivot pin disposed in the sleeve part. So that a different angular position of the two differently long swivel levers with respect to one another can be adjusted for the purpose of an optimal transmission ratio, one swivel lever can be correspondingly fitted onto a polygonal shaped-out section or on a hexagon on the free pin end, for the purpose of which the swivel lever has a corresponding polygonal receiving bore.
For using the connection element for a right-hand-steered vehicle as well as for a left-hand-steered vehicle, it is provided with two bends on its leg which are arranged at an angle with respect to one another, so that the cable coming from the brake pedal can be suspended in one bend in the case of a left-hand-steered vehicle, and the cable coming from the brake pedal can be suspended in the other bend in the case of a right-hand-steered vehicle. For the use in these two vehicles, the connection element is simply rotated by 180xc2x0.
So that an introduction of the Bowden cables from the wheel brakes to the connection element can take place without kinking, the Bowden cables are fed by way of a guiding part to the connection element and to the receiving plate. For this purpose, the guiding plate is provided on the rearward end of the receiving plate and is held by way of lateral cams in recesses of the receiving plate, and a fastening on the transmission tunnel takes place by at least one hook on the guiding part.
An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings and will be described in detail in the following.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.